UK Athletics Photo
Four of Kentucky’s five incoming transfers got a glimpse of their future home last weekend.
Transfers Mohoumed Dioubate (Alabama), Jaland Lowe (Pittsburgh), Denzel Aberdeen (Florida) and Kam Williams (Tulane) made a visit to campus and came away impressed with the facilities and surroundings.
“Kentucky is different,” Lowe said in a social media post. “It was a dream come true to be on campus this past weekend, knowing I can call this place home. The culture and fan base (are) one of the best in the world. All eyes on No. 9 BBN.”
Lowe was Kentucky’s first portal commitment and was an All-Atlantic Coast Conference performer last season. He averaged 16.8 points and 5.5 assists per game last year at Pittsburgh. Kentucky coach Mark Pope said Lowe is “an incredibly explosive, playmaking, veteran point guard.”
Dioubate added that he “had an amazing time this weekend in (Lexington).”
“The love and respect (were) surreal 100 percent,” he said. “Can’t wait to get it rocking, yes sir, BBN.”
Dioubate averaged 7.2 points and 5.9 rebounds per game for the Crimson Tide last season. He played in 27 games and averaged 16 minutes per contest. He had a double-double with 18 points and 10 rebounds in Alabama’s 90-81 win over Robert Morris in the opening round of the NCAA Tournament. Dioubate’s performance displayed his full potential and he is known to provide a physical presence on the court.
Aberdeen also enjoyed his stop at Kentucky.
“Man, I love Kentucky,” he said. “(I) had a great official visit in Lexington (and I) cannot wait to represent the university and its culture.”
Aberdeen played three seasons at Florida and was the team’s sixth man off the bench last year and was a key component in the Gators’ national title run. He played in 83 games at Florida, averaging 5.1 points per game. Pope said Aberdeen is a “winner in every sense of the word.”
“He has won at every level of basketball, and that’s all that he talks about,” Pope said earlier this month.
Williams is also anxious to join his future teammates this summer.
“The culture and love that Kentucky has for their players is very special and something that I will never take for granted,” he said. “I was blessed to have my official visit, and honestly, cannot wait to suit up and play for all the fans. Can’t wait to get to work.”
6 Responses
We are in solid shape in every position, except the 4. Some say Dioubate could play the 4, but he is a better mismatch at the 3. Garrison and Moreno have the 5 spot covered until Quaintance is ready to play, but we need another guy at the 4 spot. There are several good picks in the portal at the 4 spot. Look at how Florida dominated with all of their bigs on the way to a championship. That seems to be a good model to follow.
I agree I think MO D is much better at the 3 than the 4. Alabama played him at the 3. Some say he’s not even 6’7" more like 6’6" so that would be a very small power forward. If you put Lowe Oweh Mo D Croatian Garrison until JQ is ready. He has so many available lineups at his hands he could even do a platoon system and make changes along the way. I also think Noah could surprise some people this year if he hits the weight room and gets real strong. He’s probably the 3rd best shooter on the team behind Williams and Chandler. Williams is probably the best 3 point shooter on the team. You could even go with a Lowe Oweh Williams Mo D JQ that would be the most athletic and defense and shooting lineup. I’m not sold on Aberdeen. Played 3 years in the same offense and only averaged 7 ppg as a junior last year. Idk I’m not putting to much faith in him at this point. Ill have to see it to believe it. In fact I would play Chandler over Aberdeen. Chandler might be here for his 4 years. He’s getting married this summer and is looking for a house in Lexington that tells me he could be here for awhile. At least another 2 years. You have to go with guys that trusted the process and show he’s rewarded by doing so.
What helps Kentucky in the transfer portal is that alot of these guys grew up wanting to play for Kentucky but maybe didn’t get recruited out of high school because there wasn’t as many stars next to there names. So the second Kentucky jumps in the picture there dreams are made. Why else would someone leave Alabama and Florida and they actually contributed on winning teams. It will make Kentucky better because we haven’t been winning as much as these teams have been winning And we basically broke in a stole there starters for next year. Great strategy. Aberdeen and Mo D were both starters at Florida and Alabama this year. Imagine when we play these teams it is like us playing a rivalry game. Like when we played Oklahoma (Oweh Garrison) Garrison played for Oklahoma State but that was there rivalry game so the Oklahoma games were incredible. Louisville will also be circling the Kentucky game as a must win. They really turned there corner last year after they played us. Louisville will probably have a top 10 team when we play and we should be in the top 10 as well. So its going to be the biggest Kentucky Louisville game in a long time. We beat up on them when they we’re down so they will want to beat us now that there roster is almost as impressive as our roster is. Florida and Alabama and Auburn are all going to be down compared to the last couple of years. I also believe as bad a South Carolina was last year they will be one of the surprise sneaky teams in the SEC. Also Missouri is getting some guys back off a very good team.
I’ve also been looking at teams that are recruiting Travis Perry and Maryland would be the perfect fit for Perry they only have one point guard on the team and 2 Shooting guards so he would only be the 4th guard on the team. Also the guards that Maryland does have Perry would probably be the second best guard on the team and in the big 10 they actually play real basketball. There isn’t 20 fouls on each half. Its actually a conference that I think Perry would have the biggest impact on the game. I thought Maryland was in the ACC but I forgot they are in the big 10 which plays out great for Perry. He will make another mistake if he signs with a SEC school because he’s not ready to defend in the SEC. Remember me saying this if he goes to a SEC school he will transfer again. So why not go somewhere that you can make a difference at the only problem with Maryland is that Buzz is the coach and he likes defense more than offense.
Looks like Pope maybe getting another guard from Miami.
That would be better than not getting a 13th player, but we really need another 4.
I thought Kam Williams was our first portal commit. He committed while UK was still playing in the NCAA tournament.